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Mon, 19 Mar 2018 00:40:17 +0000en-UShourly1Hope Endures – A Reflection from BWAP Louisianahttps://preshouse.org/hope-endures-reflection-bwap-louisiana/
https://preshouse.org/hope-endures-reflection-bwap-louisiana/#respondTue, 20 Feb 2018 18:03:41 +0000https://preshouse.org/?p=4010Hope Endures – A Reflection from BWAP Louisiana by Clare Aeschbacher If you’ve been present in Worship or keeping up with the Pres House blog the past couple of weeks, you’ve already heard some of the stories from the winter Break With A Purpose trip to Denham Springs, Louisiana. First we heard Taya share about […]

If you’ve been present in Worship or keeping up with the Pres House blog the past couple of weeks, you’ve already heard some of the stories from the winter Break With A Purpose trip to Denham Springs, Louisiana. First we heard Taya share about ‘hope is born’ and how we saw hope fill Mawmaw, the 80-year-old owner of the house we worked on, as she was able to walk on her new floors for the first time since the flood ruined them in August 2016. Next, Steven shared about hope being tested in Mary, our host at the Fuller Center where we stayed, as she gave away her last towel, but received many more to give away shortly thereafter and as Mawmaw watched the flood waters rise closer and closer to her home, eventually coming in through the floors and causing significant damage. Today, I will reflect on the theme hope endures.

One of the ways from this trip that I saw the continuation of hope was through one of the construction consultants who worked for the Fuller Center, Brian. Our group didn’t directly work with Brian a whole lot, but he was still very open to sharing why he is where he is in his life. I don’t know all of the details, but from what I’ve gathered Brian has a young daughter who lives in Boston, but because of his past with substance abuse, he was only able to spend one afternoon per week with her. In December, he came to Louisiana to do home repairs and was offered a paid position to stay with the Fuller Center which is how we met him. Because he is currently living in Louisiana, Brian no longer gets to see his daughter on a regular basis, but he believes that this experience of helping others will strengthen him, give him the ability to be an even better father, and allow him more time to see his daughter once he goes home. He even speaks to local youth about the dangers of drugs and substance abuse so he can prevent them from falling down the same trap that he did. Brian may have come from a broken past; however, he is hopeful that through his experiences with the people of Louisiana, he can provide a future of hope for them as well as for himself and his family.

Though not directly related to this trip, my second story carries a similar message of hope. As many of you know, I spend my summers working for a nonprofit that does emergency home repairs, similar to those we did on this trip, in rural Appalachia. Last summer, while my co-worker Lucas was running errands around the community, a woman stopped him upon seeing the name of our organization on the vehicle he was exiting. She approached Lucas with tears in her eyes and thanked him for the work he did in the community. It turns out that she had received help from our organization about ten years ago and said it completely changed the lives of her and her sons and gave them all hope for the future.

It may seem that we did something as simple as replacing some floors or something as (not so) simple as moving a giant handicap-accessible ramp, but, in the eyes of the people we served and those who witnessed our serving, we did much more. We inspired hope that we may never see the direct effects of. But that’s not the point. The point is not to be congratulated; it is to do God’s work. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” When we can come together as a group, a church, a community and do God’s work whether it be on a service trip, baking treats for homeless people, or volunteering at the Grace Food Pantry, we can spread hope that endures.

]]>https://preshouse.org/hope-endures-reflection-bwap-louisiana/feed/0Hope is Named – A Reflection from BWAP Louisianahttps://preshouse.org/hope-named/
https://preshouse.org/hope-named/#respondThu, 08 Feb 2018 21:10:42 +0000https://preshouse.org/?p=4001A Reflection from BWAP Louisiana by Mary Murphy Hope is Named. As I reflected upon this phrase, I pulled out my sketchbook to help me express my thoughts. I resulted in the displayed drawing. I reflected on the stories I heard throughout my trip to Denham Springs, LA and I ended up with three elements […]

Hope is Named.

As I reflected upon this phrase, I pulled out my sketchbook to help me express my thoughts. I resulted in the displayed drawing. I reflected on the stories I heard throughout my trip to Denham Springs, LA and I ended up with three elements of hope–Pain/Darkness, Possibility/Light, and Trust/Community. As I continued to draw, I ended up adding words that resonated with each attribute. While doing so, I asked myself a few questions; What pain did Denham Springs suffer from? What do they hope for? And How did they cultivate those hopes into something tangible? Today I would like to share two stories that guided me in this artistic reflection.

Pain/Darkness and Possibility/Light

One particular story stands out to me in this regard is from the daughter of Director of Hospitality (Mary), Her daughter, a high-school sophomore I believe, told of the state of violence and poverty in Denham Springs before the flood and her hope for a better and safer community in the future. She talked as if the flood, though tragic and painful in-it-self, was a restart for the city to come together and rebuild a something they’d be proud of.

She ended with a story from within flood relief efforts. She explained that between a very poor trailer park and a wealthy neighborhood, stood a fence. The flood waters tore the fence down, as from the act of God, providing a passage out of both their previous lives as well as safety from the flood. Individuals from both sides of the fence worked together to gain safety, not taking into account their differences, but rather strengths, as each of them worked to survive and help others out of trouble.

Trust/ Community

Another story that resonates with me is from the work site, where I helped renovate the floors at MaMa’s house. Both the owner of the house, MaMa, and the worksite manager, Peter, put their trust in us, a group of strangers from Wisconsin, with varying construction skill but a willingness to volunteer, to help renovate the floors. Neither of them had reason to trust in our ability to complete the tasks on hand, but they did so anyway. Peter sacrificed both time and skill in order to teach the group how to restore the floor, from the demolishing step through to laminating a new subfloor. He even trusted us enough to leave the job site from time to time and allow us to cultivate our own community, trust, and faith in each other to continue to problem solve, teach each other skills, and team-up for difficult tasks.

Though we did not see MaMa’s house finished, I trust that the Fuller Center, Peter, Mary, and future volunteers will continue upon our efforts to renovate and fully hear MaMa’s stories, allowing her to move back in and resume living. I also have faith in Denham Springs to stand together in community to provide strength, hope, and love as they work to restart, rebuild, and change their city for the better.

]]>https://preshouse.org/hope-named/feed/0Hope is Tested – A reflection from BWAP Louisianahttps://preshouse.org/hope-tested/
https://preshouse.org/hope-tested/#respondMon, 05 Feb 2018 16:56:54 +0000https://preshouse.org/?p=3991Hope is Tested – A reflection from BWAP Louisiana by Steven Martell When I think of the phrase “Hope being tested”, I tend to think of the word “Faith”, so when I was asked to speak about a time that hope was tested, I knew I wanted to share a brief story of faith in […]

]]>Hope is Tested – A reflection from BWAP Louisiana by Steven Martell

When I think of the phrase “Hope being tested”, I tend to think of the word “Faith”, so when I was asked to speak about a time that hope was tested, I knew I wanted to share a brief story of faith in action. Although there are times in my life when my hope was tested, I discovered through our interactions with the people of Denham Springs, Louisiana, that those who were present during the flood in August of 2016 all had their faiths tested by the difficulties presented by the disaster.For those of you who are unfamiliar with this event, last August there was a large flood that was the result of extensive raining and the inability of the water to drain from the region. This resulted in a flood that had standing water for several days, forced many people indefinitely from their homes, and caused an estimated $2.2 billion in damage. Today I would like to share a few of the stories the people offered to us during our stay with them two weeks ago.

Our first story was from our host, Mary; she revealed to us that we can have our faith tested in some of the most unexpected ways. During the flood and in its aftermath, Mary volunteered to leave her home so she could help her church hand out various necessities to the people who had been driven from their homes. She spent an entire afternoon determining who needed the toiletries that the church was able to provide. Although this seems as first glance to be an easy request, Mary found that she had her faith tested when she began to run out of supplies while the number of people asking for these supplies seemed to stay constant. As Mary began to anticipate, she came to a point where she had only one towel remaining, even as multitudes of people requested them. Being unsure of what to do with the last towel (so as not to disappoint the crowd), Mary found herself tested. Mary reported to us that she felt called by God in that moment to give the towel to the next person waiting in line (even though this meant she would not be able to meet the needs of all the others), but she gave away the towel nonetheless. Within minutes of giving what she thought would be the last towel, a shipment containing over one hundred towels was received by the church: a miracle for both Mary and the survivors in the church.

In the meantime- while Mary was helping the people who came to the church looking for help- she hosted dozens of others in her own home, giving up her own bed. As she let people into her dry space (one of the few undamaged homes in the neighborhood), the water continued to raise. Mary told us that she, her family and those who were taking shelter in their home began to grow anxious as the water started to lap at the edge of the home’s lawn. She recalls sitting down to pray, placing her trust in God and saying “You have trusted me with all these people! You can’t let my house flood or they will have nowhere else to go!” Later that afternoon the rains finally stopped, leaving Mary’s home as an island in the water, with a new shoreline a matter of paces from her family’s front doorstep.

The final story I would like to share this afternoon is from Maw-Maw, the 81 year old woman the Pres House team members had the pleasure of serving during our trip. One morning during the week, while I was taking a break from working on rebuilding the floor, Maw-Maw told me briefly about her experiences during the flood. Maw-Maw reminded me how she is lucky enough to have many of her children living near to her or with her, yet as the water rose in her neighborhood she explained that found herself stranded at home with one of her daughters, while her sons were out in the community saving others from completely damaged homes. Although Maw-Maw did not go into much detail while telling me her story, it was clear that she had been shaken by being stuck in her home while the floor buckled and broke, yet it was also clear that she never let her fears get the best of her because she was confident that someone would find a way to make it back to help in her evacuation if need be.

Through these stories you may have seen a common theme that sprung out: hope being tested purely on a basis of faith. Although these are all more dramatic examples of tests of faith (as they are all driven by a tragic flood) they are all clear testaments to the power of faith. All these stories ring with a similar message: place your faith in God, and (although you may face challenges that will test your ability to stay hopeful and faithful) you shall not be unnecessarily harmed in your doings…

]]>https://preshouse.org/hope-tested/feed/0Hope is Born in Louisianahttps://preshouse.org/hope-born-louisiana/
https://preshouse.org/hope-born-louisiana/#respondTue, 30 Jan 2018 19:54:26 +0000https://preshouse.org/?p=3978Hope is Born in Louisiana – A reflection from BWAP 2018 by Taya Briggs As some of you know, twelve students and young professionals from Pres House went to Denham Springs, Louisiana over winter break to provide relief to flood victims. While the damage happened a year and a half ago, the community has all […]

]]>Hope is Born in Louisiana – A reflection from BWAP 2018 by Taya Briggs

As some of you know, twelve students and young professionals from Pres House went to Denham Springs, Louisiana over winter break to provide relief to flood victims. While the damage happened a year and a half ago, the community has all but been forgotten. However, going with the theme of the week Hope is Born, I saw a lot of hope being kindled during our short week on the work site.

We broke into two work groups while we were there, and while the other group did amazing work moving a several ton ramp for a couple who had mobility issues after their relief trailer was taken away, my story about our trip comes from the work site I was on, with an eighty year old lady that the community called Mawmaw.

When the flood happened, the water was just under the floorboards of Mawmaw’s raised house, so she had thought she’d escaped damage, and didn’t get any repairs. But, while the water never made it into her rooms, it, combined with termites, ruined the support beams (which Claire taught me are called joists), so the floors bounced when you walked on them. In one room, there was a giant hole in the floor with nothing between a four foot drop and Mawmaw except a dingy old carpet. So, our group ripped up the floors, redid the foundation, insulated and put in subfloor, and put in new laminate. And, the floors no longer bounced.

I don’t think most of my crew was able to see this, but once we’d finished two of the rooms (minus trim), we gave Mawmaw a tour. Each room was kind of at a different stage of the process, so we were able to show her what we were all doing, and how it looked before. But the coolest moment was when our crew leader walked into the finished room and showed Mawmaw her new floors, and told her there wouldn’t be a bounce anymore. She did the cutest little jump, she’s 80 like I said, so it was more like she stood up straight for a second and slouched back over, but she had the biggest smile. Even though her house still had a long way to go, I saw hope in her face, and that gave me hope for the future of the surrounding community.

I also saw hope in her giving attitude. Even though Mawmaw had an unstable house, and lived in a dangerous neighborhood, Mawmaw brought us snacks and offered to make coffee and hot chocolate almost every day. And, at the end of the week, she told us she had a whole new set of grandchildren.

So, even though we were only able to stay and help Mawmaw for a short week, I have a whole lot of hope for the future of her house, and the community at large. When everyone gives what they can, hope is born, and it can change everything.

To finish off, I just have a few pictures of our trip. I’ve been on a few mission trips in the past, and I always wish I would have before pictures, so I did my best to get some in-progress shots, but I just wanted to share some of what we did.

The floor beforehand, that we could just rip up, sometimes with our hands

]]>https://preshouse.org/hope-born-louisiana/feed/0Bring Back the Basement – 3 Year Anniversaryhttps://preshouse.org/basement3year/
https://preshouse.org/basement3year/#respondTue, 19 Dec 2017 20:48:36 +0000https://preshouse.org/?p=3883Almost exactly three years ago we took back the basement at Pres House from a Subway restaurant that had been renting the space for a number of years. While the income from Subway was necessary to cover costs associated with our 2007 renovation of the Pres House Chapel, we were glad to reclaim the space […]

Almost exactly three years ago we took back the basement at Pres House from a Subway restaurant that had been renting the space for a number of years. While the income from Subway was necessary to cover costs associated with our 2007 renovation of the Pres House Chapel, we were glad to reclaim the space back for mission and ministry. Shortly after regaining the space a major renovation of the basement began, transforming the basement into what is now known as Lower Hall and the Conger Meeting Room.

This project, dubbed, “Bring Back the Basement,” was made possible through the generosity of 183 donors who gave more than $700,000 to install a commercial kitchen, renovate the hall, and provide programming funds to engage in ministry in the new space. As we remember the anniversary of this exciting moment in Pres House history we are pleased to share with you an update on how Lower Hall has been used since it opened in May, 2015.

In the infographic above you will find some highlights for how Lower Hall and the Conger Meeting Room have been used in the past few years. The renovated hall and kitchen has made it possible for 10,000 meals to be cooked and/shared, countless programs to be offered to students on campus, and many partnerships to flourish and bear fruit. We hope you are encouraged to see all that has been happening in the “new” space. We wish to extend a great big “Thank you!” to all of the folks helped us to “Bring Back the Basement” and better serve the spiritual, emotional, and intellectual growth of students at UW–Madison.

Gratefully,

Pastor Mark & Pastor Erica

P.S. We invite you to consider making a year-end donation to Pres House to help us serve even more students in 2018. You can make a one-time gift or set up a recurring donation online, or mail donations to 731 State St., Madison, WI 53703. Thank you!

]]>https://preshouse.org/basement3year/feed/0Two+: Christian Communityhttps://preshouse.org/two-christian-community/
https://preshouse.org/two-christian-community/#respondTue, 19 Dec 2017 16:21:22 +0000https://preshouse.org/?p=3877Jenni Geurink graduated in December 2017 from UW Madison. She shared this reflection at Sunday Worship (12/10/17) about the importance of Christian community. I didn’t know if I was going to go to church in college, but still I followed the sidewalk and soon found myself in Pres House. That first Sunday I sat next […]

]]>Jenni Geurink graduated in December 2017 from UW Madison. She shared this reflection at Sunday Worship (12/10/17) about the importance of Christian community.

I didn’t know if I was going to go to church in college, but still I followed the sidewalk and soon found myself in Pres House. That first Sunday I sat next to Billie not knowing that she was soon to become one of my best friends throughout college. But, my freshman year didn’t go exactly as planned. I was doing all the normal freshman things- making tons of friends, eating all the pizza of my heart’s content and loving my studies, but I was also really sick. At the end of high school, I found myself dealing with a myriad of chronic health problems that no one knew how to fix, and then suddenly, I was also transitioning into college.

My body didn’t handle it so well. Over my first week of classes my biggest concern was not whether I’d like my professor or if I’d make any new friends- instead, I had to make sure that the stranger sitting next to me would be able to help me if I had seizures during class, that I wouldn’t cause a seen if I had an episode. I felt so incredibly alone in a world full of uncertainty. But I also didn’t want to talk about it. I didn’t want people to know I was sick because I didn’t want to be defined by my illness. So, as things got harder, I was determined to keep distance from the communities I had joined. As Erica loves to share, when she asked me to join the freshman small group, I actually took to time to email her back and tell her no, that small group just really wasn’t for me.

I wanted to keep all this anxiety and fear all to myself, but my body had other ideas. There were a couple tough weeks where I found myself in an ambulance more often than not, having very public seizures despite my stubborn belief that I could prevent them if I just tried hard enough. I withdrew from the communities I had found. I missed a lot of class, ghosted many of my friends, and holed myself up in my dorm room afraid of the control my body seemed to have over my life.

But Pres House wouldn’t let me go. Billie knew I was struggling and despite my seclusion, she reached out to the Deacon team here. On one of my many trips to the ER, I was admitted overnight, but while I was there, a card from Pres House made its way to me. It had some silly quote about peas in a pod wishing me “get well,” signed with hopeful messages from the community, many who didn’t even know me. And I was completely overwhelmed. With gratitude, with confusion. I didn’t understand why they would reach out to me, why they cared when I had so obviously disappeared. And for the first time in long while, I really felt God’s presence. I backed away from this community when I needed it most, but God didn’t leave me; God sent this whole community roaring back, unwilling to let me go through this alone. That card meant so much to me. It blanketed me in God’s love, dragging me out of my isolation because someone out there cared- it still hangs on my wall today. It was here that I learned the incredible value of community even when I didn’t want to acknowledge it myself. I needed the push, the not so gentle reminder that I can’t always be the one who helps, that I need to learn to accept help too.

Looking back now, it’s almost comical to see how quickly Pres House has become such a big part of my life, a fixture of my undergraduate career and anchoring point. After those dark months, I have felt called to give back to this community that has given me so much, to extend the same gesture to others and still ask for help when I need it too. This is all to say, that a simple message, a card, a hug, a coffee buddy can transform someone’s experience. I am humbled by the grace that was extended to me and constantly reminded of the message of Two plus. We talk about it every week, but think about it- wherever two or more are gathered, God is there. Even when you feel like you are completely alone, God is there with you, in the people around you, in the stubborn love of a community. I have seen God here in Pres House, and I know I wouldn’t be the same without it.

]]>https://preshouse.org/two-christian-community/feed/0In the Heart of Campus – Drone videohttps://preshouse.org/heart-campus-drone-video/
https://preshouse.org/heart-campus-drone-video/#respondThu, 16 Nov 2017 21:49:17 +0000https://preshouse.org/?p=3818This is a cool drone video showing just how central Pres House is on the UW-Madison campus. Steps away from Bascom Hall, Memorial Union, the Terrace, and State St. Pres House Apartments: Campus’s Best Location from Pres House on Vimeo.

]]>https://preshouse.org/heart-campus-drone-video/feed/0Letters from Prisonhttps://preshouse.org/letters-from-prison/
https://preshouse.org/letters-from-prison/#respondWed, 01 Nov 2017 17:29:22 +0000https://preshouse.org/?p=3799Chris Sundahl is a graduate student at UW Madison. He shared this story at Sunday Worship on October 29th during a sermon series, “Questions On Our Mind: Where does it hurt?” When I arrived in Madison in 2013, I did a bit of church-shopping. At one of those churches, I picked up a couple of […]

]]>Chris Sundahl is a graduate student at UW Madison. He shared this story at Sunday Worship on October 29th during a sermon series, “Questions On Our Mind: Where does it hurt?”

When I arrived in Madison in 2013, I did a bit of church-shopping. At one of those churches, I picked up a couple of friends that I wanted to talk about today. This church ran a snail-mail-based Bible study course with prisoners, and a few of them had included notes in their correspondence that they’d like a penpal to talk about their faith and the Bible with, and also help them through the times they were having. Being young and invincible and extremely eager to talk about my faith (since I was new to Christianity), I thought it was a good idea to take BOTH of these letters, and start writing to them, on top of all the coursework I had coming at me.

Art by Nick

Nick and Josh are both white men in their late twenties, locked up for doing different things. Both had lost touch with many of their friends after being locked up, and I was one of the few people they had consistent contact with. Though I’d only write once a month or so, they’d always write back within a week of receiving my letter. We’d exchange little paragraphs about our lives, and talk about Bible verses and stuff. Nick sent me a lot of poetry and drawings. From the start, they wanted me to visit them. When you see the same people every day, I imagine one or two hours a week with someone else can be nice. I was cleared to visit pretty quickly, but both of them were past Beaver Dam, making it hard, since I don’t have a car. So we kept sending letters for a while.

I sent Josh a letter in November of 2014, after a year of correspondence, and then didn’t hear from him for several months. I figured he was “ghosting” me in analog, that maybe he didn’t really want to carry on the conversation. So I didn’t think about it too much, and carried on with my coursework. Then, after 9 months or so of silence, I got a letter from Josh. “If this letter finds you, let me know right away cause I have a lot of stuff that I would like to share with you!” he said. “I had a falling away from the Lord. But thank God! The Spirit is still strong enough to convict me to make my way back.” The next letter is missing from my records, but I remember that when I mentioned that I thought the lack of response was a signal to quit, he said it was the opposite. He said he’d rather I had written when I noticed his extended silence. He spent the next few months recovering from this slump. “My faith is not going well,” he wrote in December. “I don’t know what my problem is man, I do so good for a while but then continually fall back into the slump that I am in.” He was never very specific about the problem and I didn’t press for details, but writing the letters seemed to help him a lot. In that same letter, he said “wow I don’t want to be the old me anymore. I have to remind myself that I am remade. I really think this letter has helped. You know how you can just bury feelings that you don’t want to feel, so writing them down just lets me know what I have to do in order to fix it.” His tone totally turns around at the end of the letter, full of smiley faces and Bruce Lee quotes. “I’m going to go study [the Bible] right away. Thank you for being here for me to write, it truly helps me tremendously,” he writes. And all I had to do was write a letter!

In 2015 or 2016, I finally visited both of them, planning short day trips to the area. It was pretty awkward, as you might imagine. We were used to having days or weeks to respond to each other, and here it was a completely different mode of communication. Nick was a chatter box, filling up the two hours pretty quickly. My visit with Josh coincided with his dad’s, so I felt a bit like an intruder. That one felt a little bit longer. But it was nice to put a face and a voice to the names and handwriting of my friends.

A little bit after that, when maintaining two friendships by mail felt like it was getting a little harder, we switched to phone calls. It still wasn’t easy – settling in to a Saturday morning breakfast when you get a call you weren’t expecting and won’t be able to return, it’s a conscious decision to pick up the call instead of carrying on, especially if you’re like me and don’t enjoy having your plans disrupted, even by good things. But I usually picked up, so I heard about it when Nick got assigned to a job in Milwaukee near his family and friends, and when Josh severed his patella twice and needed to talk to someone about how slow his treatment was.

Now, Nick is still locked up, but we haven’t had a phone call in months. He gets visits from friends and family at work now on a regular basis, and his supervisor lends him a smartphone while he’s there. He posts on Facebook all the time now, and I have an occasional Message chat with him. He’s got less than a year left before he can go home on parole.

Josh was released in September, just as he was starting to walk around again. I missed the last call he made, and I haven’t heard from him since. I’m not sure how to get in touch with him, and I’m not sure he’ll contact me – he’s near his family and friends again, and he was planning on getting involved at a church as soon as he was out. He’s immersed in the bustle of the world again, and I’m not sure how high of a priority it is for him to contact me.

Have I learned anything from all this? I’m not really sure. I’ve been thinking about “building muscles”, as Erica says so often, and I put this at least partly in that category. Even though there might not be that many specific things I learned: “check in if they don’t write back for a month”, “pick up the phone at breakfast”, it’s more just something I’ve gotten used to doing. By building these relationships and putting time into them, seeing a side of life I might never have seen otherwise, I’m hoping that collectively and individually we’re becoming more of the people that God wants us to be.

Nick let me know when I Facebook chatted him that he knows at least a couple of people that could use a penpal. If you think that’s something you’d like to do, you can let me know.

]]>https://preshouse.org/letters-from-prison/feed/010 Pieces of Alumni Advice for Madison Studentshttps://preshouse.org/alumni-advice-madison-students/
https://preshouse.org/alumni-advice-madison-students/#respondThu, 19 Oct 2017 19:35:14 +0000https://preshouse.org/?p=3762We recently asked Pres House Alumni what they wished that had known when they were starting out as students at UW-Madison. They had some great alumni advice to share in 10 areas! Here is what they said: On Grades Zuf W: Unless your goal is med school, law school, or an eventual PhD, bad grades […]

]]>We recently asked Pres House Alumni what they wished that had known when they were starting out as students at UW-Madison. They had some great alumni advice to share in 10 areas! Here is what they said:

On Grades

Zuf W: Unless your goal is med school, law school, or an eventual PhD, bad grades won’t jeopardize your future success at all. I mean, good grade still matters (it certainly helps open doors when you don’t have much else to show) and hard work is always required, just don’t stress over a bad grade like the end of the world. Sometimes if not always, a well executed project through an org carries as much if not more weight than an A in a class. Comparatively, many people get A’s, not many projects succeed. I’ve had many friends who aren’t stellar students grade wise but have some fantastic experience and wealth of knowledge through personal pursuits/project work. They eventually all landed gigs in well respected companies.

Daniel T: I second Zuf Wang’s statement about grades, and would like to add: Don’t be afraid to completely change your major. If you’re stuck in something you don’t like, keeping at it won’t help anyone.

Andrew E: Grades aren’t the most important thing even if you DO go on to medical or graduate school. Generally, if it won’t matter in 5 years then try not to get worked up over it now.

Alice D: Grades don’t matter that much in life. Not worth the stress! Go to more office hours and you’ll learn a ton more, whether or not you end up getting the grades.

Favorite Study Spot

Alice D: Large table rooms hidden in the stacks of memorial library, the SAC during non-busy hours, and Sencha tea shop.Zuf W: Indie Coffee on Regent (if you don’t mind smelling like coffee for rest of the day) and late night corners of Mechanical Engineering building.

Daniel T: The Geology Library has Van Hise’s desk, so top that.

On Getting Involved

Natalie S: Join a club or group that you’re really interested in even if you don’t have a whole lot of experience to back up your interests. Don’t let yourself miss out on the chance to learn a new skill or discover a new topic, if could just become one of your passions.

Andrew E: Go on fall retreat! Join a club that you’re interested in. I wish I had known how hard it would be to find a place like Pres House after graduating. Take advantage of all that Pres House has to offer! It’s a truly unique community.Zuf W: It’s kind of like shopping for classes or gaining a new hobby. It takes a few tries to find the ones you really like, not just the ones that sound cool. Some persistence and dedication helps.

Daniel T: There’s more to church than being the people up front. Go be the guy who hides in the back, cleans dishes, runs slides, or mops up the basement when it floods right before church. It’s OK to not want to be the person up front, and there are roles for you in the organization. Conversely, if you want to be up front, that’s great too.

Jessie P: Last, find your passion or cause and do something with it–join an org, do a volunteer activity, go to church, sign up for spontaneous trips and events, etc. It becomes a lot harder once you leave campus to find similar-aged people who have the same passions, in the same area to talk and do stuff with! College goes fast, love every minute!

Alice D: Get involved as MUCH as you can… you’ll make so many valuable friendships (best places to get involved: Pres House, Hoofers, Slow Food UW).

On Roommates

Jessie P: Unless you are extremely lucky, you will not like or just not get along with at least one of your roommates. That’s okay. Stick up to the things you need or really want but you will have to let some things go. It will be uncomfortable to speak out about shared space, but it’s a lot worse to have a pan that is blue and fuzzy with mold sitting in your kitchen for a week. Trust me!

On Failure

Zuf W: Failure should be expected and embraced, not feared and shunned. It’s only in failure do you find light on your path. Take many risks and expect to fail each time. In my opinion, that’s the best if not the only way to learn and grow grit.

On Classes

Jeffrey R: You don’t HAVE to go to class. You GET to go to class. You get to apply yourself in the most meaningful ways and learn all about this wonderful world around you. Don’t dread it, cherish the challenge.

Zuf W: Read as much as possible outside of class. Squeeze time to read. I’ve used the excuse of heavy course load to not read. It certainly didn’t do me any good. Reading is how you get better at evaluating risks before taking them while you don’t have much experience taking risks. I turned to audiobooks when I found it difficult to set time aside to read. Your 10 minute commute to class adds up.

On Your Major

Jessie P: Majors–change it! Make your own path–get one major, get two, get certificates. Your exact degree is important but not as important as having classes that you love. Your grades will be better in classes you enjoy. If you don’t enjoy your engineering classes, don’t just stick it out but change to something you love.

Alice D: I wish I knew that trying to “identify” with your major can take away from all the other aspects of college. Find a major that works for you logistically, then take as MANY classes as you can in other areas. College is a rare opportunity to be able to find information on anything in the world!

On Professors

Hannah M: Professors are just people. Don’t be afraid to approach them. Go hang out in office hours (not just right before an exam!) and ask questions beyond “I’m confused about what the question is asking” and “will this be on the exam”. Try talking about the course topic more broadly and ask big questions. You can have some great conversations with the best professors in the field if you just approach them. They will remember you if you do so. They are also great resources for career advice.

Samantha J: I wish I would have gone to TA/professor office hours more often!

Jessie P: If you find something interesting in a field that your professor works in, just go chat with them about it. You don’t need a ‘problem’ to go see them. They also like to chat. And, you will definitely learn more about it. Some of the professors at Madison are the best in their field–use them!

On Studying

Drew I: I wish I’d known the value of long periods of uninterrupted study. Whether they be dedicated to homework, scriptures, or whatever skill was required of my work. I wish I’d known the benefit of seeking a place to turn off my cell phone, ignore emails, (for a period of time! Not indefinitely!) and focus intensely on the task at hand. I didn’t work to find a place like this until my last few weeks on campus, and I found quiet corners of Engineering Hall to work best, despite being a music student. This definitely doesn’t depend on location, more on mindset, but I happened to find having specific locations to associate with this mindset very helpful.

Other deep thoughts…

Hannah W-K: I wish I knew how shockingly diverse and mysterious this world is. I got lots of glimpses of this fact from amazing professors, mentors and traveling, but overall I was too stuck in a frenzy to define myself and write a kick butt resume to appreciate the ride of life. Professional development is important, but the drive to focus on extrinsic motivators in college left me with many moments of emptiness. Instead of feeling backed into a corner where each step felt like a potential wrong turn, I wish I knew that my global community was too large, too beautiful, and too messed up to ever paralyze me for long. Life is just too dynamic. Just like the earth, I grow and change. I wish I knew the journey is the reward.

David F: I wish I had been more courageous in saying what was on my mind.

Karen B: Have a clear picture of your best self — either your current best self or the best self you hope to become. Every day do at least some things that person would approve of.

]]>https://preshouse.org/alumni-advice-madison-students/feed/0What if I Fail?https://preshouse.org/what-if-i-fail/
https://preshouse.org/what-if-i-fail/#commentsTue, 17 Oct 2017 18:22:58 +0000https://preshouse.org/?p=3755Savannah Kenny graduated from UW Madison this past spring and is now a young professional working in Middleton. She shared her story at Sunday Worship on October 15th, 2017 during a sermon series, “Questions on Our Mind: What if I fail?” My most recent faith journey began during a conversation with my parents after my […]

]]>Savannah Kenny graduated from UW Madison this past spring and is now a young professional working in Middleton. She shared her story at Sunday Worship on October 15th, 2017 during a sermon series, “Questions on Our Mind: What if I fail?”

My most recent faith journey began during a conversation with my parents after my freshman year of college. Somehow in that conversation they told me they both believed in God. I don’t know why I was so surprised.

We had grown up in Catholic church, gone to church camps, but because I wasn’t sure what to make of God I interpreted their silence on outright statements of faith as them not being sure as well. Growing up I took bible stories as stories. Lessons to make you a good person. But that conversation with my parents started me thinking about what it meant to actually believe in God and why that part was important.

‎Sophomore year of college school really amped up. Aside from the insecurity that came with being a female in engineering I also had ADD, and it was a fairly recent diagnosis. So basically I hadn’t fully dealt with the label yet.

Being the only girl around, and needing special accommodations on tests seeded a deep sense of unworthiness of my position in my classes. Everyone’s sense of surprise at me being in engineering, or their belief that I had gotten in because I was a girl started to get to me. “Maybe I didn’t belong in engineering” “Maybe I was high school level smart but not college level”. Any time I failed or struggled with something I thought to myself “you’re just not smart enough for this”. Because a lot of my self confidence with linked with being “smart” I was feeling very insecure.

On top of this my parents had been fairly overbearing growing up. So with the newfound freedom of college I was doing a load of things that were just not an option to me at home, things they would not have approved of. While I am not ashamed of everything I recognize that many of the things were not things that a centered person with confidence does. What moreso affected me was that my moral code was in the air.

I was trying to get into Biomedical Engineering at the time and the struggle of not getting in and reapplying was really validating my lack of confidence. Comfort and guidance from Christians during this time made me start to dispel the reasons I had not taken God seriously. I started reading the bible in an effort to get an unbiased opinion and started to analyze the lives of believers around me. I started to see the push back against believing in popular media, in friends conversation, and had the very real realization that I could have been enculturated into not believing. And this was powerful for me.

During this time, especially early in my sophomore year, I started seeking places where God was without really realizing it. I came to Pres house a few times and thought about joining the music team. I put my name on the email list but didn’t commit. Once my junior year came around. I was more open to the idea. I had just broken up with my boyfriend whom I had blamed a lot of my self confidence issues on and it was time to deal with myself and my decisions on my own. Face my questions and concerns.

During this time I talked to Erica over coffee about some of the things I could not get on board with in my parent’s church. Having that conversation and getting to know her and Mark presented a side to Christianity that I needed to see. A side that led to possibility for me.

Dispelling my confidence and trust in myself and my own logic was a painful yet amazing life step. I ended up not getting into biomedical but life went on. I found computer classes which I really loved and was good at and ended up graduating in Electrical Engineering. Once I was more believing than not, which I can pin point to right around the Pres house fall retreat my junior year, I felt extreme peace. That literally whatever God threw at me I would be ok. It was very freeing. A peek into ever-lasting and abundant joy and love.

My more recent struggles center around being ashamed, a feeling I definitely realized while trying to write this. I am still embarrassed by believing. What if I am wrong? What if I am a fool like some people say? But the story of Jesus and the backlash he received is comforting to me in this.

I still hear the small atheist/agnostic in my head from time to time. But for now I am building a list of my uncertainties and trying to delve into them with the faith that God will show me the way.